Jesse Pujji turned down a $750,000 offer from Citadel hedge fund to quit Goldman Sachs and start Ampush with his co-founder in San Francisco. At 25, making $400,000 a year, he felt physically sick at the thought of more spreadsheets and meetings. He left to build something of his own instead.
I worked at Goldman, and when I was 25, I made $400,000 and it was like my dream job. And I had an offer at another firm called Citadel. That job generally is like spreadsheets, reading, and meeting with management teams. And I remember just being like, I'm just more dynamic than this. I'm okay with half of my expected earnings so that I can be like an entrepreneur. I can be a dynamic person. So I leave Goldman and then I get a call from Citadel. He sent me like a $750,000 a year offer. So I call my co-founder and we're literally in the process of moving to San Francisco to start Ampush. And I'm like, bro, I can't do— like, what do you want me to do? He's upset, but he's like, man, I get it, whatever. And I basically quit before I even started Ampush. I woke up the next morning. I had this like weird semi-dream thing where I pictured myself in business casual with a badge walking into this orientation for this new company. And I felt nauseous, like I felt sick to my stomach. I called the hedge fund guy and I was like, dude, I'm sorry, I cannot do this. Like, I need to go. And my co-founder was super pumped.
